BBC Wales

The late Queen’s phrase “recollections may vary” is something documentary-makers know all too well as they try to tell real-life stories.

In the case of new BBC two-parter Hunting Mr Nice: The Cannabis Kingpin, an added challenge was that several of the interviewees were frequently high on drugs during the times they were trying to recollect.

The audience at the RTS Cymru Wales screening and Q&A learnt about the difficulties of assembling and questioning members of notorious cannabis smuggler Howard Marks’s inner circle, some of whom had never spoken before.

Did Mr Bates vs the Post Office have you glued to your TV screen?” asked ITV on social media. The question – presumably rhetorical given the New Year drama’s colossal ratings – was plugging an archive clip of what seems to be the first TV news coverage, in English, of the UK’s biggest miscarriage of justice. “In English” is important.

Trust – how to earn it and how to keep it – was the key word during two panel discussions at an RTS Cymru Wales event on sports docu­mentaries in Cardiff last month. Streamers offer big budgets for sports docs – but only commission if you can guarantee the access. And to get that access, you need trust.

It was the measure of her professionalism and wit that she could offer advice while gently chiding her fellow continuity announcers.

Mari Griffith, though, was much more than a radio announcer. She was, in turn, a singer, presenter, independent producer and, in her later years, a successful novelist. Mari, who has died at the age of 79, was also a long-standing RTS Wales Centre Committee member.

Reid, who graduated from the BBC Broadcast Engineering scheme after joining as an apprentice in 2013, receives an all-expenses paid trip to the broadcasting trade show, IBC, in Amsterdam this September.  

The young engineer was chosen to receive the award, which is sponsored by digital technology giant Atos, by a panel of industry judges, chaired by digital media consultant Terry Marsh. “It was a very strong field this year, however Gareth stood out immediately,” said Marsh.

The BBC’s schedule of programming will run from 25 June to 8 July, and the series will include programmes across BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four, as well as BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 and will celebrate the long history of the NHS as well as examining what the future might hold.

Snow admits to having some conflicting emotions when researching his great-great-grandfather. “He was a notorious womaniser, whose long-running relationship with his young secretary meant that he almost had two wives. I’m descended from one of Lloyd George’s daughters, so this other side of his life has always been a bit of a family secret, something we never talked about.”

Before 2005 and the production of Doctor Who in Cardiff, Wales was always seen by the BBC – including me – as the “problem child”. But, just as with a “problem child” in a classroom, alarmingly, the problem is more often with the teacher/adult than the child; invariably, “problem children” are the most interesting in class and mature into the best of adults.